Mile High DPS February Meet Up

I tested a lot of different techniques that I have picked up over the past few months in this photo. 

Set up:

Softbox with Canon 580EXII behind and right to the right of the model to fill in the shadows. Main light source was  a strip box with a white lightning strobe to the left of the model. Backlight to blow out the wall was a bare white lightning strobe placed behind a makeshift wall to block it from spilling onto the subject. Unfortunately I don't remember the power settings. I did however borrow a Sekonic 308 light meter to get my exposure just right without having to tinker too much.

Post Processing: 

I used Zack Arias technique of putting a colored vignette around the subject. Just noticed that the colors don't show up that well on the blog, but you get the idea.

Softbox

Just received my Westcott Apollo umbrella style softbox today. Practiced with camera settings a bit trying to get the right exposure. What I really want now is a light meter. If you look closely at the girls eyes, you can see the square catchlights from the softbox.  

I used my Canon 580EXII at 1/8 power fired with Gadget Infinity triggers.

Metadata:

f10 1/250 ISO 100

Metadata:

f6.3  1/160 ISO 100

Flower Power

My sister received flowers for Valentine's day and she wanted a few pictures of them. I decided to practice a slow shutter speed and zooming out technique I heard about from some other photographers. Looks like a water painting. Pretty cool.

A Walk in the Park

I took the girls to the park yesterday and used it as an opportunity to practice mixing ambient light with my flash. Why use a flash in broad daylight you ask? It's primary purpose is to fill in the shadows that the the harsh sunlight casts on a person's face. The goal is to dial down the flash strength so that it doesn't even look like you're using a flash. You could also eliminate the strong shadows by using a reflector, but that can be difficult to do if you don't have an extra pair of hands to hold it up. After seeing the results I would like to get some gels for my flash so that the light being emitted matches the warm temperature of the sun.  

Colorado Strobist Newbie Meet Up

Last night I attended the Colorado Strobist meet up for newbies. Overall I felt like I didn't learn much but I did enjoy meeting some other photographers and got a few more pictures to add to my portfolio.

Model: Adrienne Larrew 

Butterfly Pavilion

I visited the Butterfly Pavilion with my girls on Friday. I have come to the conclusion that I can not focus on my kids and my photography at the same time.  We were there for over an hour and I only came up with one picture that I thought was acceptable and up to my standards.